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Summer 2009

• Recent MFA alumni, Toshi Tanaka, Ryan Gothrup, and Keith Mendak, are in th Almost Famous exhibit at Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, VA June 26 - August 15.
  
  
• Younseal Eum, MFA candidate 2010, has been accepted into OPTIONS 2009 which will be taking place in one of DC’s most established contemporary art galleries, Conner Contemporary Art, located at 1358-60 FLORIDA AVE, NE - WASHINGTON DC 20002. The exhibition dates are set for September 17 – October 31, 2009. Anne Collins Goodyear, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Portrait Gallery, is the curator.

• Andrea Donnelly, MFA candidate 2010, had her piece Holding In selected for the Radius 250 exhibit at Artspace in Richmond. It runs June 26 through August 23.
  
  
• Hiromi Takizawa, MFA candidate 2010, has her first solo exhibition at The Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, New York, June 26 - August 23, 2009. See http://www.urbanglass.org/

• Recent MFA recipients, Gabriel Craig and Jon Sutter will present at The 17th Symposium on Architectural History and the Decorative Arts which will take place on Friday, November 13th, under the title of "Traditions--I." It's cosponsored by a dozen distinguished institutions (VMFA, Virginia Historical Society, etc.) and last fall attracted about 400 souls. This year, 2 of the 8 speakers come from Craft/Material Studies. Gabriel will speak in a session on ironwork, and Jon will speak in a session on furniture.
  

• Olivia de Soria, BFA candidate 2010, just received a $5,000 Gilman Scholarship to study abroad in Qatar
  
  
• Susie Ganch, professor, has her Radical Jewelry Makeover project in the press again. This time in the American Craft. See http://www.americancraftmag.org/article.php?id=8009

• Jason Hackett, MFA 2005 and adjunct professor, lectured on his making and use of molds and the strategies used for employing cast parts in his work at Portland Community College in Oregon earlier this summer
  
  
• Susan Iverson, professor, was in a group show,"Conversations", at the Wellington B. Gray Gallery at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, June 8-30, 2009

• Penland School of Craft in North Carolina was graced with the presence of many VCU Craft/Material Studies folks as teachers. This summer Kiara Pelissier, MFA 2006, taught Introduction to Furnace Working in Glass and was assisted by Keith Mendak, MFA 2009. In metals, C. James Meyer, Emeritus Professor, taught Found Object as Raw Material; Susie Ganch, professor, conducted the Radical Jewelry Makeover with Christina Miller and assistance from Gabriel Craig, MFA 2009; and Arthur Hash, BFA 2001, taught a class called Upcycling.

• Sonya Clark, professor, is in the exhibit Illinois. The exhibit is at the MCAC in Bloomington from June 26 - August 8. Sonya will also be presenting at a conference a Haystack called Making: Past, Present and Future in Deer Isle, Maine in July. Later in July she will be in Wisconsin on a two-week Artist Residency at Edenfred. Recently, a book called Choosing Craft was published and included an article she wrote.
  

• A Busy Bee Sat on a Bushel of Blossoms a Drawing Installation by Nicole Baumann, MFA at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden will be on view from May 9 – July 5 in Ginter Gallery II http://www.vmagazineforwomen.com/may09/nicolebaumann.html
  
  
• Travis Townsend, MFA,  was awarded the Virginia A. Groot foundation grant again this year.  Travis will have work at  Sculpture Center in Cleveland, Ohio later this year and was also published in Lark Books's 500 Tables.

• Check out this recent review of recent MFA, Cari Freno's work. Cari will also be exhibiting at 1708 Gallery in FEED2009: a Juried Biennial, in Richmond, VA. The opening is this Friday,  June 5th, 7- 9 and the exhibit runs through July 11. The jurors were Ashley Kistler from the Anderson Gallery and Mark Sloan of the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art.
  

• The fiber area  in our department, thanks to  our own Susan Iverson, got some nice recognition from New York Times critic Roberta Smith. Check it out on page two.
  
  
• MFA alumna, Lizzie Perkins,  and  instructor, Emilio Santini,  were both mentioned in a review in the Daily Press  Lizzie  also had her work, Ida, chosen for the BIGG: Breakthrough Ideas in Global Glass exhibition sponsored by Steuben Glass.  from July 10-October 10 at the OSU Urban Arts Space and Hawk Galleries in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Afterward, select works from the BIGG exhibition will travel to SOFA Chicago 2009 on exhibit November 5th through the 8th. The jurors were Lino Tagliapietra , Italian glass Maestro, Tina Oldknow, Curator of Modern Glass, Corning Museum of Glass, and Tom Hawk, Director, Hawk Galleri

• Kristin Totoritis, BFA candidate, received a scholarship to Penland for glassblowing
  
  
• BFA, Kathleen Kennedy, is working as a studio assistant for two artists, Nancy Worden and Gina Pankowski. Kathleen also has a new website to share  www.kathleenwkennedy.com

• Jason Hackett, MFA,  just launched his website. Check it out:  www.jasonhackettceramics.com  

• Sonya Clark, chair, will have work included in the Uber Portrait exhibit at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, Washington June 16 - October 18. Sonya will have some work up at the Illinois exhibition at McLean County Arts Center in Bloomington, IL from June 26- August 8. Sonya will have work at the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, NY in the exhibit Dress Codes: Clothing as Sculpture curated by Barbara Bloemink July 12 - October 4.
  

May 2009

• Roberto Celis,  was elected as Vice President to the VCU Student Government Association of the Monroe Park Campus.  Roberto  was also awarded a series of awards and scholarships including one to attend Penland this summer, the Green Award at the Planet E(art)h exhibit in the Student Commons Gallery, a $2500 License Plate Affinity Award, and a $2500 Multicultural Diversity Award.  
  
  
• Other prize winners in the Planet E(art)h exhibit in the Student Commons Gallery include Kristina Totoritis, who won the Dean's Award and Elaine Butcher, who won the Student Choice Award.)
  
  
• Brittany Felter, Cathy Nault, and Barbara Dorrough,  and Meg Christensen  were awarded scholarships to attend Peter's Valley Fiber classes this summer.

• Olivia Lewis received the incoming Craft/ Material Studies student $1000 Deans Scholarship. 
  
  
• Lenora Mesnard received the Outstanding Student award from the Surface Design Association.
  
  
• Melanie Seegere,  received one of the University-wide Summer Undergraduate Fellowships for 2009.  Melanie also received a $300 Peachtree award and and $300 Eastman Award for her work in glass.
  
  
• Other  Peachtree recipients were Ryan Tanner,  and Brenna Rondeau.

• The other Allan Eastman Award recipients include Morgan Robinson  for her work in clay, Colleen Freeman  for her work in fiber,  and Emma Shirley  for her work in metals. 
  
  
• Olivia de Soria received the first $200 Evelyn Dunn Award for her work in the Senior Show.  The prize was selected by  our very own Barbara Werner.

• Jill Rich was awarded the Undergraduate Juried student award for Craft/Material Studies for her  Introductions Series.  This prize was selected by juror David McFadden, Chief Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design. Jill also received a $2000 Deans Scholarship.
  
  
• Leilani Gonzales received a Student Assistantship for the SNAG conference in Philadelphia this May 20-23

• Kent Perdue just received an Artist-in-Residence at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Kent also has two pieces, "Sling Table" and "Just one more minute", nominated by William Hammersley  were accepted  and will be on display at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts as part of FURNITURE09: “Industrious” The Design, Craft & Commerce of Furniture Making at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina as well as in an online showcase linked from the Furniture Society’s website. 

• Gabriel Craig, MFA candidate,  is published again this month.  This time it is an 8-page full-color article, "Seeing Green: Towards Sustainable Jewelry Practices",  that he wrote in Metalsmith Magazine  p 32-39. Gabriel has work up at the  Stuff: Jewelry for the People  exhibit at Sub-Octo Gallery in Philadelphia from May 20-23. 

• Gabriel and Amy Weiks, a former 5th year student,  recently were awarded a 12 month joint Residency that starts this fall at the Houston Center of Contemporary Craft in Texas. 

• Keith Mendak,  MFA candidate, was accepted in the Bearing Witness exhibit in Chicago's ARC Gallery during the month of June.  Keith  also got a nice page write up in the April issue of Richmond Magazine for an altar he installed at the slave burial grounds site/Lumpkins Jail.

• Keith Mendak and Eum Youn Seal, MFA candidates, have had their collaborative  necklace, Couple, from the condom jewelry series, Play it Safe selected for the Kinsey Sex show at Indiana University.
  

• Hiromi Takizawa, MFA candidate,  was in the group exhibit, the mini shiny show, at Gallery 831 in Columbus, OH last  month.

• Friday,  May 1, 5-10 p. m. : MFA alumni, Katie Hudnall, Lizzie perkins, Debbie Quick, Aaron Stubbs, and Sayaka Suzuki,  will have an open studio at Lab 307 at 307 N 26th Street in Richmond, VA
  

• Joe Grant III, MFA, will be head of the Glass Program in the 3-D Area of Studies in the School of the Arts at Illinois State University Bloomington/Normalfor the academic year 2009-2010.
  

• Adam Welch, MFA,  has  works featured in the new Lark Books publication, 500 Ceramic Sculptures
  

• Katie Hudnall, MFA,  received the first ever University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Art, Wood/Furniture Area Resident Artist Program for $15,000!
  

• Lizzie Perkins, MFA, has work up on the site http://www.notcot.org/page/5/?action=search&query=glass
  

• Travis Townsend, MFA,  is in the exhibit, Penland: Great Teachers, Great Artists at Habatat Gallery in Tysons Corner, VA  from April 28th to July 17. Travis will be included in the Cedarhurst Wood Project at the Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mt. Vernon, Illinois and the "Transformations" Raphael Prize show at Pittsburgh's Society for Contemporary Craft. 
  

• Katie Hudnall, MFA,  received the first University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Art, Wood/Furniture Area Resident Artist Program for $15,000!
  

• Sidney Deaghlan, BFA, was accepted into graduate school at Cranbrook Academy of Art.
  

• Ryan Hereth, BFA,  has been a resident at Cub Creek and will be exhibiting his work along with the other residents at the Heart of Virginia Festival in Farmville, VA on May 2.
  

• Virginia Griswold, BFA,  was just accepted @ Alfred University's MFA program with a full scholarship
  

• Heath Matysek-Snyder, MFA,  is in a one year residency at Designed Objects Tasmania in Hobart.  Heath was in a juried biennial exhibition entitled the "Tasmanian Wood Design Collection Biennial Acquisitive Exhibition" which opened in Hobart and moved to Launceston. Heath has also been a visiting artist at the University of Tasmania, Art School in the Furniture Design Department.  He proposed and was selected for a public art commission Tasmania for the new pediatrics wing of the Royal Hobart Hospital.
  

• Nanda Soderberg, MFA, is working at the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington state as a gaffer for artists, Whitfield Lovell and Elizabeth Turk, this summer.
  

• Sarah Holden, BFA, has work in her first international exhibition where she is eligible for 3 different awards at The Port Moody Art Awards in Port Moody British Colombia, Canada.   Sarah also has work in the Fibers Expanded exhibit at the Luke and Eloy Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA. Sarah also had interviews published on the art blogs, MYARTSPACE BLOG, and IMPLICIT ART

• Allan Rosenbaum  and  Lydia Thompson have works featured in the new Lark Books publication, 500 Ceramic Sculptures
  

• Susie Ganch will participate in RE/ACTION(S) at Craft Alliance, St Louis, MO, May/June 2009, a group show curated by Gail M. Brown. Also, Susie's collaborative  Radical Jewelry Makeover Project  was reviewed in a a two-page full color essay by Kate Dobbs Arial in the April issue of  Metalsmith Magazine page 20-21.
  

• Sonya Clark's work at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art was favorably reviewed at the end of an article by Holland Cotter in the New York Times.  Sonya will have several pieces included in the group exhibit, Hair on Fire, at the Halsey Institute at the College of Charleston in South Carolina which runs from May 14- June 15. Sonya's work is also included in the Architecture and Design Museum of Los Angeles exhibit, Upcycling: reclaiming past lives, from May 8- June 8.

April 2009

• Kent Perdue, BFA candidate,  is the first VCU undergraduate student ever to have won a prestigious national $15,000 Windgate Fellowship Award.  
  

• MFA candidates, Keith Mendak, Akiko Jackson, and Ryan Gothrup, were all awarded Thesis Assistantships through the Graduate School at VCU. 
  

• Maureen Elswick and Roberto Celis, BFA candidates,  each received a $1000 Dean's International Study Grant from VCU.
  

• Gabriel Craig, MFA candidate,  published a full color 5 page article on his work the April/May issue of American Craft Magazine
  

• Olivia de Soria, BFA candidate,  had her Gumball necklace featured in the style section of the March issue of Virginia Living Magazine
  

• Mary Andrews, BFA, directs the merchandising department, Etsy.com .  Mary and etsy were featured recently on CBS Sunday Morning in an interview where Mo Rocca investigated America’s handmade economy. Mary was also featured as a contributing editor in  N.E.E.T magazine's March issue in which she wrote on Etsy artists who have been able to sell their art full time on the site. 
  

• Matthew Isaacson, MFA, has a solo exhibit from April 3rd - 24th at Columbus State University's, University Hall, Experimental Theatre.
  

• Katie Hudnall, MFA,  has her work included in Design Book Eight just released by Taunton Press
  

• Lindsey Jochets, BFA,  was just accepted into the graduate program  for an MA @ Parsons/Cooper Hewitt in the History of Decorative Arts and Design
  

• Jackie Walther, BFA candidate,  received a scholarship to attend Haystack this summer

• Natalya Pinchuk gave a lecture on her work at the Corcoran in Washington, DC and has two person show at Jewelers' Werk Gallery  March 27-April 16 also in DC.
  

• Lydia Thompson  has a six page full color article on her work in the March 2009 issue of Ceramics: Art and Perception. 
  

• Jason Hackett  has work included in the exhibit, Room For Eleven at RJP Nomadic Gallery in Phoenix, Arizona as part of the NCECA conference. 
  

• Sonya Clark has work in DC at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art exhibit,  Mami Wata,  that opens April 1 runs through July 26.  A review of her talk and solo exhibit at the List Gallery is in The Daily Gazette.  Her work is also in the Encyclopedia of African American Artists by Dele Jegede published by Greenwood Press (Westport, Connecticut: 2009). And locally, her work was featured in the March issue of Virginia Living Magazine.

February 2009

• For the second year faculty member, Natalya Pinchuk, has organized VCU's booth at ACC-Baltimore, the premier craft exhibit in the nation. The booth will include work by current students and recent alumni:   Olivia DeSoria, Keaton Freeman, Holly Clark, Danielle Stevens, Nathalie David, Carol Sauer, Amy Weiks, Kent Perdue, Brenna Rondeau, Cari Freno, Marisa Barbara, Keith Mendak, Younseal Eum, Andrea Donnelly, Meg Roberts, Mary Fray, Hiromi Takizawa, Jeremy Dunn, Gabriel Craig, Amanda Costello, Carlene Bermann, Britanny Felter  and Devin Trom. Also at ACC-Baltimore, check out the glass work of Nanda Soderberg, MFA,  in the special Searchlight Section.  

• MFA candidiates, Aaron McIntosh, Hiromi Takizawa, and Andrea Donnelly are presenting their work at 1708 Gallery in Richmond on Saturday, February 7th for the Fourth Annual Graduate Art Student Forum.The event is from 5:30 -8:30 and will feature presentations of new art by 8 MFA candidates from UVA and VCU:    http://1708gallery.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html

• Cynthia Myron, MFA,  will have her work included in "Decorative Resurgence" at Rowan University during the annual Society of North American Goldsmith's Conference.  The exhibition will be open from 4/20 through 5/28.   Cynthia's  smiling face and a piece of her work  graced the cover of the cover of the James Renwick Alliance's Quarterly Magazine.  The Alliance came to Richmond this fall to check out or craft scene and they had a great time.  Also in the Renwick's Quarterly Magazine was an article called "We Learned About Craft Education in Richmond" in which faculty members,  Susie Ganch, Jack Wax  and  Sonya Clark were mentioned along with alumni, Kiara Pelissier and Hyun Kyung Yoon.  Susie Ganch and Kazue Taguchi, MFA  had images of their work highlighted.  

• Sheal Eum, MFA candidate,  will be showing her work at the New York Toy Fair in NYC February 15-18  at the Javits Convention Center. This is the largest toy fair in the Western Hemisphere.

• Josh Rodenberg, MFA,  is at Rowan University teaching 3D foundations

• Susana Almuina, MFA candidate, and Nicole Bauman, MFA,  have work included in "New Waves 2009"  at the The Contemporary Art Center of Virginia (CAC) in Virginia Beach from January 23-March 15, 2009.  The exhibit has been juried by Josée Bienvenu, founder and director of Josée Bienvenu Gallery located in Chelsea, New York and Brian Holcombe, founder and director of Saltworks Gallery located in Atlanta, Georgia.

• Hiromi Takizawa, MFA candidate, has work at See Line Gallery  Jan 17th -Feb 28th http://seelinegallery.com/ .  Hiromi  is a NICHE 2009 student award Finalists in Glass http://www.americancraft.com/NICHE_Awards/2009/f_student/glass.html. Hiromi has work up at California State University, Fullerton Grand Central Art Center 10th Anniversary Exhibition & Alumni from Feb7th- April 11th http://www.grandcentralartcenter.com/eHiromi's  work will be included in  Glass Review 31 published by the Corning Museum of Glass in NY.

• The work of Virginia Griswold, MFA, and faculty member, Natalya Pinchuk, are included in the Next Iconoclasts at Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, January 15 - February 22. The exhibit is juried by Gail Brown

January 2009

• Hyun Kyung Yoon, MFA,  has a solo exhibit,  Indeterminate Lines, that opened at the Delaware Center of Contemporary Art on January 9.  

• Ryan Gothrup, MFA candidate, and Cari Freno, MFA candidate,  both received SCHEV merit award for their art work

• Aaron McIntosh, MFA candidate,  and Andrea Donnelly, MFA candidate,  were selected as graduate assistants for the Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design (CCCD) conference "Inspired Design" held this January in North Carolina.  
  

• Hiromi Takizawa,  MFA candidate, Aaron McIntosh, MFA candidate,  and Andrea Donnelly, MFA candidate,  will all be included in the 1708 Forum exhibit at Capital One in February in Richmond, VA. 
  

• Mary Cox, BFA candidate, was awarded a VCUarts Undergraduate Research Grant with Jessica N. Price called "Magnetic Jewelry"
  

• Gabriel Craig, MFA candidate, had a review of his work in Laughingstock, an exhibition at Luke and Eloy Gallery in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Gabriel  is also in  is in "Decorative Resurgence" at the Rowan University Art Gallery in Glassboro, NJ from April-May. 
  

• Jackie Brown, MFA, has been accepted to the 23rd International Juried Show at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. The juror is Adelina Vlas, Assistant Curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The show opens February 13th, 2009.
  

• Kazue Taguchi, MFA, was in a group exhibit "Ethnography of No Place" at the Rosenberg Gallery at Goucher College in Baltimore.  It was listed as one of the Top Ten exhibits for the year in the Baltimore City Paper
  

• Katie Hudnall, MFA, will be having three of her works published in a book by Schiffer; loosely titled, 100 Great Wood Artists and will present on a panel that she organized on Emerging Artists at the 2009 Furniture Society conference this summer.  Her work can also be seen on the Society of Contemporary Craft website.
  

• Hiromi Takizawa,  MFA candidate, will be in a group exhibit at California State College, Fullerton that opens next month.  
  

• Megan Biddle, MFA, is on a 2 month Residency at the  prestigious MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. 
  

• Susie Ganch  has work included in the exhibit, SOUL'S JOURNEY: INSIDE THE CREATIVE PROCESS: 22 Contemporary Object Makers from the Southeast, at the Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design (CCCD)  in Hendersonville, North Carolina. The exhibit is up January 23-April 25. A two-hour documentary of the artists and their work will also be shown.  
  

• Jason Hackett is in an exhibit called  Endangered at Kennedy Gallery in Brooklyn, NY from February  4th through February 28th. 
  

• Sonya Clark's  solo exhibit "Loose Strands, Tight Knots" at the Walter's Museum in Baltimore, MD was also listed as one of the Top Ten exhibits for the year in the Baltimore City Paper and "Second Lives" at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in NYC has been so well received that the exhibit has been extended through April 2009. Also,  Channel 13/WNET in NYC and Ralph Caplan's article in AIGA's Voice magazine have spotlighted Sonya's piece in the MAD exhibit.

 

December 2008

• Sleight of Hand @ Gallery 5 in Richmond, VA, "National Juried Craft Show" opening Friday, December 5 at 7:30pm.  Juried by Faculty member Natalya Pinchuk, this exhibit includes the work of many of our alumni and current students including Gabriel Craig, Ryan Gothrup, Aaron McIntosh, Danielle Stevens, Elizabeth Perkins, Kathleen Kennedy, Katie Hudnall, and Amy Weiks
  
  
• Kathryn Cole, BFA 2007, has a solo show, Bits and Pieces of a Place, that opens December 5 and runs through January 15 at Modern Formations Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA

• Kent Perdue, BFA 2009 candidate, has been selected by the department as a Windgate Fellowship nominee
  

• Caroline Gore, BFA 1998, showed her work at SOFA Chicago in November with Ornamentum Gallery. She also presented a lecture at SOFA as part of the SNAG Emerging Artists Series 
  
  
• Kazue Taguchi, MFA 2007, has been selected as theArtist in Residence at Corning Glass Museum in New York for March 2009

• Keith Mendak, MFA 2009 candidate, has hisglass teeth included in Fine Contemporary Crafts Exhibition at Artspace in Raleigh NC. Nov. 22 - Jan.10
  
  
• Ryan Gothrup's, MFA 2009 candidate, "Feverloscher", has been chosen as a finalist in the category of Glass: Sculptural for the2009 NICHE Student Awards competition

• John Sutter, MFA 2009 candidate, wrote areview of the Furniture Society Conference that was recently published in their Newsletter. The article looks back to the first conference, which was ten years ago. This is the third published conference review Jon has done for the Furniture Society
  
  
• Emily Henry, MFA 2008, won the Award of Excellence for works on paper in the SICA  (Shore Institute of Contemporary Art ) under the name Sayward Henry. See http://www.sica.org/Exhibitions/2008Juried_Winners.html Emily also has work at Inner Noise at Caladan Gallery in Cambridge, MA and annual juried show at Second Stage Studio in Rhode Island in December. Also, Emily will be showing her work internationally at the Blutenweiss Nomad Art Project "Anonymous Drawings" which will be on view in Berlin at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/ Bethanian
  
  
• Anna Mills, BFA 1995, has been accepted in to theArt Therapy Masters program in New Mexico (Southwestern University)
  
  
• Emilie Brown (now  Emilie  Henry), MFA 2008,  had her work shown in Lafayette Mill Gallery in Rhode Island in October. In November she will show at  the Shore Institute of Contemporary Art (SICA) in New Jersey, and she will participate in a fundraiser for L.A. Center for digital arts (LACDA).   Emilie is also teaching at The School of Art- Boca Raton Museum of Art

• Meg Roberts, BFA candidate 2009,  just had her piece "Extreme Crafted" by Garth Johnson.  Check it out under Doo Right:
  http://www.extremecraft.com
  
  
• Cynthia Myron, MFA 2004,  who also teaches as an adjunct in the department will have a new piece of hers included in the James Renwick Alliance Craft Weekendheld at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC on Saturday, April 25, 2009
  
  
• Susana Almuina, MFA 2009 candidate, will be showing her work at the upcoming exhibit,New Waves 2009 at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia
  
  
• Natalya Pinchuk, will be in two upcoming exhibits:Next Iconoclasts, Hoffman Gallery, Oregon College of Art and Craft, curated by Gail M. Brown and the30th Annual Contemporary Crafts Exhibition, Mesa Contemporary Arts, juror Namita Wiggers. Natalya also has two new websites. One for her work in general,www.natalyapinchuk.com, and another for the project she will be doing while at a an Artist Residence program inAmsterdamlater this month, www.uglyobjects.com

• Jack Wax, has his work included in the new 250 page full color book, Contemporary Glass Sculptures and Panels
  
  
• Jason Hackett, was in "NOT Fit for Human Consumption"(An All-Ceramic Sculpture Exhibition) at Gallery 5 in Richmond that ran November 7-28

• The full color catalog for the Japan Jewellery Biennial that includes the work of Susie Ganch has recently been published
  
  
• Susan Iverson had her work  published in the  Craft Report online review of Fiber Philadelphia and the International Fiber Biennial

• Sonya Clark had her work,  Madam CJ Walker,  highlighted on the Fiji TV News in Japan.  The same work was also cited in the December/January issue of  American Craft Magazine. Sonya also has her work highlighted in a twelve page spread in the new book  150 page full color book, Manufractured, published by Chronicle Books.  The book was published in conjunction with the exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, OR

November 2008

• On Monday, November 24th and Tuesday the 25th from 11am-7pm the Contemporary Craft Society presents the Holiday Craft Sale, featuring works by students in the VCUarts Crafts/ Material Studies department. The event will be held on the VCU Monroe Park Campus in lobby of Fine Arts Building 1000 West Broad St. Various works of art will be available for purchase with sales benefiting the artists and the Contemporary Craft Society. Contemporary Craft Society Holiday Craft Sale Poster
  
  
• Jason Hackett was in ceramic exhibition "Not Fit for Human Consumption" Gallery 5 (the firehouse) in November 2008 http://www.gallery5arts.org/Home/BFBF0F89-12A5-46F1-9592-CAFE3A7131F9.html 

• Linda Laino, BFA 1985 and MFA 1991, received a $5000 Fellowship from the Virginia Commission for the Arts
  

• Jeannine Hill, BFA 2006,  was in "Unmarked Pathways: emerging voices in contemporary art" at North Georgia College and State University 
  
  
• Katie Hudnall , MFA 2005, has a two page full color spread in Fine Woodworking's Furniture: 102 Contemporary Designs (2008,Taunton Press)

• Jessica Schlacter, MFA 2010 candidate, just had her work purchased by the Enameled Arts Foundation and was asked by famed enamelist, June Schwarcz to demonstrate her skills
  
  
• Aaron McIntosh's, MFA 2010 candidate Communicating with the Past  has been accepted into the Quilt National '09 Exhibition. There will be a catalog published and the exhibit will travel nationally. Aaron will also have his work included  in an exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Design, NYC in an upcoming exhibit on cut paper

• Gabriel Craig, MFA 2009 candidate, Amy Weiks, 5th year alumna, will be in the exhibition Laughingstock: Humor in Art and Craft at Luke and Eloy Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA, November 15th - December 23. Gabriel's work, Narcissist no.6 will be published in 500 Enameled Objects by Lark Books, due out Spring 2009
  
  
• Adam Welch,  MFA 2003, has been working with http://www.artaxis.org/ since its inception and is now working with its creator to start an annual e-journal
  
  
• Natalya Pinchuk has her work included in two recent books:  Jewellery from Natural Materials  by Beth Legg  Adorn: New Jewelry by Amanda Mansell. Both books were published in London. Natalya was also invited to be an artist-in-residence in Amsterdam Dec. 12-Jan. 12 organized by Atelier Ted Noten at a former brothel room, 4 by 4 meters in size, recently converted by the city in their effort to gentrify the red light district.  For a month she will be doing a version of "ugly object" project. For more on the residency, see: http://www.tednoten.com/2008/06/08/offered-artistinresidence-place/
  
  
• Emilie Brown (now  Emilie  Henry), MFA 2008,  had her work shown in Lafayette Mill Gallery in Rhode Island in October. In November she will show at  the Shore Institute of Contemporary Art (SICA) in New Jersey, and she will participate in a fundraiser for L.A. Center for digital arts (LACDA).   Emilie is also teaching at The School of Art- Boca Raton Museum of Art.

• Rachel Rader, BFA 2006, is having her first show in Seattle at VAIN http://www.vain.com/blog/
  
  
• Sonya, Susie Ganch, and Natalya Pinchuk will all have work SOFA Chicago November 6-9 at Navy Pier. They will be represented by Snyderman Gallery, Sienna Gallery, and Charon Kransen Arts, respectively. Sonya  and  Susie  each received Virginia Commission for the Arts $5000 Artist Fellowships. Along with alumna Linda Laino (see above), all three VCA Fellows this year are from VCU Craft/Material Studies
  
  
• Susie Ganch and the Radical Jewelry Makeover were written up in the San Francisco Chronicle.  Check it out http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/10/19/LV2713GAVU.DTL
  
  
• Sonya Clark  was a juror for the Chenven Foundation grants this year and awarded $1500 prizes from a pool of almost 400 applicatints.  For more about the Chenven Award see: http://www.chenvenfoundation.org/

• Sonya Clark  will be heading out to Portland, Oregon to give a lecture and workshop in conjunction with the Maufractured exhibit she is in at teh Museum of Contemporary Craft.
  

October 2008

• Natalya Pinchuk is in Girls Play Games exhibit at Facere Gallery in Seattle from October 1-25.  Also, Natalya Pinchuk will be featured in the jewelry book, Adorn, published by Laurence King, coming out this fall as well as Mixed Media Jewellery published by A&C Black, coming out in 2009. Also, two images of her work were published in Jewellery from Natural Materials, A&C Black
  
  
• Susan Iverson lectured at the Kentucky Museum of Art  and Craft in conjunction with the travelling American Tapestry Alliance Biennial 7 exhibition on October 25 at 1pm in Louisville, KY.

• Tina Boy is the Core Exhibit at Penland Gallery.  See the article written about the show at http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/100108fierce_dedication_to_craft
  
  
• Younseal Eum will have her robot design featured on the cover of  'Servo magazine,' the leading magazine in the robot field. That's her piece on the issue pictured on their website: http://www.servomagazine.com/
  
  
• Gillian Maniscalco, BFA 2008, is interning at Anthropologie in the Art & Color dept doing fabric design.
  
  
• Sayaka Suzuki, MFA 2005, presented a talk "Material as Alphabets; encouraging a flexible grammar" at a panel discussion at Mid America College Art Association held at Herron School of Art and Design at Indianapolis, IN. Sayaka, also, was accepted to teach a workshop next summer at The Pittsburgh Glass Center.

• Josh Rodenberg, MFA 2007, was awarded a solo show at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art in Indiana for the summer of '09.
  
  
• Alissa Davis  has published her first review in Whitehot Magazine.  See http://whitehotmagazine.com/whitehot_articles.cfm?id=1543
  
  
• Gabriel Craig just received  a $3500 graduate research grant to continue to pursue his research on ironwork research from the Center for Craft Creativity and Design. With this prestigious grant he will lead an interdepartmental coalition at VCU in the study of Aesthetic/Arts and Crafts Movement materials currently in the collection of G. Krug and Son, the oldest continuously operating ironworks in the country.He is also in the process of starting a new Craft Zine for up and coming artists.
  
  
• Hyun Kyun Yoon, MFA 2007, has had her work pictured in several magazines of late including: Ceramics Monthly, American Style, and House and Design

September2008

• At 1708 Gallery  from September 4 - October 11, Craft/Material Studies alumna, Rebecca Murtaugh (MFA 2001) will be showing site specific installations with Matthew Gehring
  
  
• Reflect(s), a glass exhibit featurung the work of several the Craft/Material Studies glass area's best opens at the Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, VA on September 5th, 2008. Including in the exhibition are faculty member Jack Wax and alumni Kiara Pelissier (MFA 2006) and Kazue Taguchi (MFA 2007).
  
  
• Craft/Material Studies aculty member, Susie Ganch's work is on the cover of the most recent Metalsmith Magazine Vol. 28, No.3 with a seven page full color article about her work.
  
  
• Undergraduate student, Jacquelyn Walther, had three pieces of her work were featured in the Premio International di Scultura. 

Spring 2008

• Craft/Material Studies assistant professor Susie Ganch has been awarded the NICHE Arts Educator of the Year by American Craft 2008.
  
  
• Craft/Material Studies students will be at the American Craft Council Craft Show at the Baltimore
  Convention Center 2/22-2/25/08.
  
  
• Graduate student Ann Walsh has two chairs that will be included in the forthcoming Lark Books publication, 500 Chairs.
  
  
• Alumna Rebecca Summerour is working on the conservation of several 17th century tapestries at the at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC.